Tag Archives: center line

Have you planned your trip to the center line? A total solar eclipse will occur on Monday, August 21, 2017. The path will cross the mainland United States and I’ll be traveling across three states to reach it. Motels, RV parks, and campgrounds are already full, but I like to be mobile to chase clear skies anyway. Hello BLM land 🙂

This will be my third total eclipse – I had to travel farther for the first two.

As the great day approaches, expect to see more articles on eclipses. There will be the usual warning not to look directly at the event with your unprotected eyes – and you should never stare directly at the sun anyway! You risk eye damage if you do. The eclipse isn’t special this way. It’s just that the glare and pain usually keep people from trying.

Space.com has a contribution this week. Temperatures will drop in the shadow of the moon as it blocks the sun – a larger drop than you might expect from a passing cloud – about the difference between noon on a clear day and sunset.

During a total eclipse i 2015, researchers recorded the temperature

… at a height of about 5 feet (1.5 meters) above the ground, and found that the lowest daytime temperature occurred 2 minutes after the end of totality…The Earth’s atmosphere is a good insulator, meaning it doesn’t exchange heat easily… This delayed transfer of heat could explain the slight delay in the cooling of the air during totality.